


Honour!

by unacaritafeliz



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Episode: s03e17 The Ember Island Players, Gen, Pre-Relationship, sokka is just there for a moment but it's important to know that I ship the three of them
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-05
Updated: 2020-07-05
Packaged: 2021-03-05 02:01:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,607
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25086571
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unacaritafeliz/pseuds/unacaritafeliz
Summary: It's not something Zuko could expect Suki to understand. No one in the Earth Kingdom would ever make fun of a Kyoshi Warrior, much less desire or celebrate her death. Suki demands respect.Zuko never has.[Zuko's upset about the Boy in the Iceberg. Suki gets him through it].
Relationships: Sokka/Suki/Zuko (Avatar), Suki & Zuko (Avatar), Suki/Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 17
Kudos: 387





	Honour!

Zuko tries not to think about it, tries to focus on the sight of the embers dancing on his fingertips, the sound of the waves hitting the beach, the feel of the cold night air against his skin, but it's like the memory is burned into his brain. He can't stop thinking about it, the dumb actor with his scar on the wrong fucking side, going down in flames, to cheers and a yell about 'honour!', like his death was good, like it was desirable, like it was _funny_.

Maybe it would be, Zuko things bitterly, as he twitches his hands, glaring at the flames that spark there. Azula would definitely think it was funny, and his father would think it was about time anyway. And he knows that team Avatar, he knows that Uncle, he knows Mai and Ty Lee, they wouldn't exactly celebrate his death, but they probably wouldn't care that much anyway. Why should they? He hasn't done anything to deserve it.

It still hurts.

"Can't sleep?"

Zuko jumps, his instincts kicking in just quickly enough to tilt his hand away from the voice's owner as it alights with his surprise. He twists around to see Suki, standing right next to the porch swing, with a mischievous smirk on her face. He hadn't even heard her come outside, let alone sneak right up behind him.

"You scared me," Zuko says.

"It's a talent," she says, with a shrug. She drops down onto the porch swing next to him, lying down with her legs tucked under her and her head resting solidly against Zuko's arm. "Can I join you?"

Zuko rolls his eyes, but lifts his arm so she can settle more comfortably against his side, knowing he might as well just let it happen. It's been pretty hard to get used to, but Team Avatar is... clingy. Even Toph, who punches to show affection, has no qualms about cuddling up to steal his warmth.

Suki, though, is probably the most shameless of the lot.

They sit there for a moment, staring out at the dark beach in a companionable silence. Suki's breaths are deep and rhythmic, and her body is warm where it rests against his. She's still something of an enigma to him; a badass and ruthless warrior, but a kind and patient friend to the people she cares about. He doesn't quite understand her yet, but he feels safe with her, in a way he still doesn't with the rest of Team Avatar.

"That was some show, huh?" Zuko asks, quietly.

Suki snorts. "I kind of liked it," she says.

"Yeah, because they were nice to you," Zuko huffs. His fingers trace absent-minded patterns on her arm. "You got to be some badass warrior lady, and I had to be some dramatic, hotheaded, teenager obsessed with his honour."

"Well, that's very on-brand for both of us, _Prince Zuzu_ ," says Suki, jamming her finger playfully against his ribs.

Zuko rolls his eyes at the nickname, but stays silent. It's not something he could expect Suki to understand - no one in the Earth Kingdom would ever make fun of a Kyoshi Warrior, much less desire or celebrate her death. Suki demands respect.

Zuko never has.

"They made fun of all of us, Zuko," says Suki, softly, when his silence stretches on. 

"It's different," Zuko mutters.

Suki moves, pushing herself away from him. In spite of himself, Zuko immediately misses her warmth, but she doesn't go far - settling on her knees, next to him on the swing. He looks up at her, his breath catching at the focused and serious look on her face. Her face is clean, but he can almost see her Kyoshi Warrior makeup there anyway.

"Tell me," she says.

Zuko looks away, his gaze settling back on the dark beach. "It's stupid," he says.

Suki takes one of his hands in both of hers, pulling it to rest on her thighs as she tangles their fingers together. Zuko can't help but glance down at their joint hands, his face flushing with heat.

"Tell me," she repeats.

Zuko takes a deep breath. Half of him wants to snatch his hand away and go back inside, but he knows that she won't follow him if he does and he doesn't really want to be alone right now. His gaze flickers from their hands to her face and back to the beach, knowing he won't be able to find the words if he keeps looking at her.

"They want me to die," Zuko says, voice coming off a little more choked than he anticipated. He has to pause to collect his thoughts but Suki doesn't say anything, even as her fingers tighten around his own. "And I know it's because I betrayed the Fire Nation, I know I'm their enemy now but... I used to see this troupe every year as a kid. And they treated my death like a joke."

"They've been fed propaganda about the war their whole lives, Zuko," says Suki, quietly. "Of course they want Ozai and Azula to win, that's the only thing they know."

Zuko exhales. Suki is right, of course. Logically, he knows all of this, has known he hasn't had the respect of the Fire Nation since he was banished from it at thirteen years old, but it's one thing to know this, and another thing to see the evidence of it in front of his face.

"I guess it just finally hit me that I'm alone in this war," says Zuko. "The Fire Nation hates me for betraying them and everyone else hates me for being part of the Fire Nation, and for causing so much destruction whilst I was chasing the Avatar. No one would care if I died in this war."

The sentence is barely out of his mouth before a pair of warm fingers hook under his chin, roughly turning his face to meet Suki's. Her eyes are alight, shining with an emotion that Zuko hasn't seen there before.

"I would," she says, firmly, in a tone that should leave no room for arguments. "I would care."

Zuko stares at her, bewildered by the strength of her statement. His gaze jumps between her eyes, unable to settle. "Suki," he says, a little breathlessly. "I burned down your village."

"Yeah, and then you broke me out of prison," says Suki. Her fingers are still firmly under his chin, keeping his eyes on her. "People change, Zuko!"

"You don't get it," Zuko says, turning his face roughly away from her.

"No, _you_ don't get it," says Suki. She moves her now free hand down to their joint ones and squeezes. "You're not alone anymore, Zuko. You're one of us now, and we're not going to let anything bad happen to you, ever."

Zuko doesn't need Toph's earth bending, doesn't even need to turn to face Suki, to know that she's completely believes every word she's said. He thinks he might believe them too, thinks he may have believed it for a while now, but it's still hard for him to feel it, when he's spent a lifetime never feeling good enough.

"We're going to win this war," says Suki, firmly, even though there's no way she can know that. "And when we do, the whole world is going to know what an awkward, badass, and really awesome dude Prince Zuko really is."

Suki's punches him in the shoulder, soft, not like Toph, and when Zuko turns to look at her she's smirking. She detaches one of her hands from his so that she can boop him on the nose, and Zuko smiles, in spite of himself.

It's not enough to counter thirteen years of living with his father. It's not enough to offset three years of banishment. It's not enough to forget that he will probably have to face off against his sister, an experienced fire blender who will have no qualms about killing him. But it's enough to make up for one terrible play that made him feel insignificant and unloved.

It's enough for tonight.

"You're a menace," Zuko tells her, instead of saying any of the things he actually wants to say.

Suki winks at him, and he thinks she may have heard them anyway.

"What's happening out here?"

Zuko looks past Suki to see Sokka leaning against the doorway, looking sleep-rumpled with his long hair falling into his eyes. Zuko panics, suddenly completely aware of the fact he's holding hands with someone else's girlfriend but Suki doesn't let him pull his hand away.

"We couldn't sleep," she says, almost casually, over her shoulder, in a tone that sounds like it might means more to Sokka than it does to Zuko.

"I see," Sokka says. He walks over to sit behind Suki, who immediately leans back into his chest, pulling Zuko's hand with hers, so it rests on her lap. She extends her legs until they're draped over him too. Sokka slings his arm around Suki's shoulder, letting it fall down until his hand rests on top their joint hands. "Anything you want me to know about?" he asks.

Zuko pulls his gaze away from their joint hands to look at the couple sitting next to him. Suki's looking back out at the water, but Sokka's eyes are trained on his face, looking so earnest, and so, so blue.

Zuko shakes his head. "No," he says. "I'm good."

Sokka nods once and turns to look out at the beach. Zuko's gaze only lingers for a moment, before he turns to look at it too.

Their hands stay tangled together on Suki's lap.

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally gonna be Zukka but then Suki just, like, appeared? And was really awesome? So fuck it, have some Zuki (We all know the Zukki OT3 is end game anyway)


End file.
